Video gaming is a rising trend around the world, especially for teenagers, and this is a sustainability problem. According to a 2008 U.S. report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, “consoles collectively consume an estimated 16 billion kilowatt-hours per year, roughly equal to the annual electricity use of the city of San Diego.” On top of this monstrous consumption, there are many hazardous chemicals that go into the production of gaming systems and are eventually put back into the environment during disposal. However, there is hope. If all video game manufacturers put a greater emphasis on energy efficiency and reduction of pollutants, as Nintendo has already demonstrated to be possible, and players understand the importance of turning their consoles off when not in use, we can greatly decrease this form of consumption. Initiatives, such the Energy Star seal of approval will help achieve this goal.
The Problem with Electricity Consumption When you press the power button on a gaming console and grab hold the control it is as if you enter another world, but by doing so you are having a negative effect on the world we all live in. The reason is that the cord stretching from the back of the game console to the outlet on the wall is guzzling up electricity at an alarming rate. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, greater than 50% of the country’s electricity comes from burning coal. This is clearly not sustainable for a number of reasons. First, coal is not renewable and will eventually run out. Second, burning coal releases carbon dioxide gas as well as other harmful pollutants such as mercury. Third, mining coal is incredibly destructive to the environment as can be seen from mountain top removal. Everyone is a stakeholder of global warming and those in areas near mountaintop removal or large coal plants see even worse effects. Unfortunately we do not yet have any perfect source of energy well within our grasp and as long as we have to rely upon coal for power we need to limit our consumption. These limitations to our electricity use can happen two-fold: by using electronic devices less and greatly emphasizing device efficiency. Video game consoles are a perfect example of where we can take action decrease our energy consumption and therefore limit our negative effects on the earth.
Game System Usage Video Game usage started out as a small hobby of the computationally savvy, but since the nineties it has become a part of everyday life (Fromme 2003). It is especially prevalent today with children, teens, and young adults. A study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that 36% of adolescents studied, play video games. “Female gamers spent an average of 44 minutes playing on the weekdays and 1 hour and 4 minutes playing on the weekends. Male gamers spent an average of 58 minutes playing on the weekdays and 1 hour and 37 minutes playing on the weekends,” according to the researchers. Now while this may not sound like a large amount of time on the individual level, it is enormous on a national or world scale. To put things another way, the chart below contains the total number of video game consoles sold worldwide for today’s top three selling systems.
VGChartz Console Sales Worldwide (Oct 23, 2010):
Console
Wii
PS3
X360
Total
75,057,362
40,257,637
44,159,294
That’s nearly 160 million game consoles in existence. Not to mention the more than 20 other big name gaming systems, most of which have become out of date. Despite this insane level of consumption, it is predicted that the amount of video game usage will continue to increase, as it has been, well into the future.
Video Game Consumption A study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) provides and in depth analysis on the amount of consumption of some of the most common video game consoles today. This study found that the Sony PlayStation 3 burns through an average 150 watts and the Microsoft Xbox 360 consumes an average of 119 watts in active mode. In comparison, the Nintendo Wii consumes a mere 16 watts when active. According to the study, annual game consumption in the US alone is responsible for 11 million tons of CO2 emissions. (NRDC 2010) To make matters worse, it is expected that by the year 2020, the total amount of energy consumption from video game consoles will be nearly triple what it is today (Bronk, Lingamneni, and Palem 2010). There are a number of reasons these statistics are so high. First, the number of video game consoles in households is increasing rapidly. In the United States alone there is nearly an 8% annual increase. Second, the average power consumption of consoles is increasing (NRDC 2010). Every year game system manufacturers aim to push the boundaries of technology and offer the most energy intensive, high quality technology on the market. The graphics capabilities of the Xbox 360 and PS3 are dramatic. Other features that are offered by game systems, such as internet access, also increase the level of consumption. Furthermore, the consumption of the video player systems offered by the newest Xbox and PlayStation products are simply ridiculous. These consoles utilize anywhere from four to seven times as much power as stand-alone Blu-ray disc players and as much as 24 times the power of a stand-alone DVD player(NRDC 2010). Lastly, and most certainly not least, is the problem of not turning off gaming systems. In some cases users simply forget to turn off their consoles, but in other instances they will leave them in the middle of a game because they don’t want to lose their progress. Some people leave their systems on for hours and others for days at a time. A PS3 or Xbox 360 left on 24 hours per day, seven days per week will consume as much electricity each year as two new refrigerators. (NRDC 2010) This is a crazy amount of consumption, but the NRDC estimates that nearly 50% of all users leave their systems on when they are not in use. These wasteful practices result in an enormous sustainability problem.
Cradle to Grave To add another dimension to the problem, it is important we consider the harmful byproducts of video game consumption. Like many consumer products there are two chemically devastating periods in the game systems life span, its creation and its destruction. Many of the chemicals which go into the production of these devices are similar to those in modern computers and include polyvinyl chloride (PVC), phthalates, and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). The first two are used to make soft plastics like wire casing, and can cause problems in human reproduction. BFRs are known to accumulate in the human body and they can eventually cause abnormal brain development, affecting learning, memory, and behavior. (Chiang 2010) Once again the Nintendo Wii sets the best example for being phthalate and PVC free according to the 2008 Greenpeace report Playing Dirty. Once a console breaks or becomes out of date it is usually discarded as electronic waste. E-waste is a serious problem we are facing all around the globe and the video game industry certainly isn’t doing much to help. Microsoft and Nintendo lack any form of voluntary product take-bake programs for their customers. Roughly 10% of all plastics produced by Sony are made up recycled materials, but the company still faces the same problem with handling most of the toxic e-waste that is produced.
Solutions While the negative environmental effects of video gaming are fairly daunting, there are several steps we can take solve the issue. The most obvious solution is to completely cease game use. Our ability to survive and be happy on this planet is completely separate from our ability to play video games so theoretically we can do without them. Based on the amount of game usage today, however, this is not a very practical solution. The next best option is to better educate users about the consequences of their actions. Turning game systems off when not in use can bring the colossal energy consumption down to a fraction of the average usage. Skeptics, however, will argue that many adolescent gamers don’t understand the problem well enough to lower consumption even if they are aware of their level of energy use. An improved solution is to educate the parents, who are well aware of the effects of high electricity consumption in their houses; they get to pay the bills for it. Another solution to the problem is to demand better efficiency and less toxic products from companies. This change can happen from government influence, such as the Green Gaming Act, or greater free-market value for sustainable products. The Nintendo Wii has already provided a perfect model of energy efficiency toxin free technology, now it is time to demand this of the other big names. One incentive for companies to create more efficient game systems is the Energy Star seal of approval. The energy standards for game consoles were announced two years ago and already companies appear to be switching to a more environmental focus with products such as the PS3 Slim and Nintendo DSi; both of which offer better energy savings. Through the requirement of more user-friendly power management features, such as automatic power down options, we could save approximately 11 billion kWh of electricity per year, cut our nation’s electricity bill by more than $1 billion per year, and avoid emissions of more than 7 million tons of CO2 each year—an amount equal to the global warming pollution from all the cars on the road in San Jose. Even greater savings would be achieved worldwide. (NRDC 2010)
Peer Reviewed: Bronk, Christopher, Avinash Lingamneni, and Krishna Palem. "Innovation for Sustainability in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)." Rice.edu. Rice University. Web. 29 Oct. 2010. <http://www.rice.edu/nationalmedia/multimedia/2010-10-11-ictreport.pdf>. Cummings, Hope M. "Relation of Adolescent Video Game Play to Time Spent in Other Activities, Cummings and Vandewater 161 (7): 684." Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 161.7 (2007). JAMA & Archives. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, July 2007. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. <http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/161/7/684?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=video game&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT>. Ed. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Ecos Consulting. "Lowering the Cost of Play: Improving the Energy Efficiency." NRDC.org. Natural Resources Defense Council, Nov. 2008. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. <http://www.nrdc.org/energy/consoles/files/consoles.pdf>. Fromme, Johannes. "Computer Games as a Part of Children's Culture." The International Journal of Computer Game Research 1001 (2003). Game Studies.org. Game Studies, May 2003. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. <http://www.gamestudies.org/0301/fromme/>.
The Problem with Electricity Consumption
When you press the power button on a gaming console and grab hold the control it is as if you enter another world, but by doing so you are having a negative effect on the world we all live in. The reason is that the cord stretching from the back of the game console to the outlet on the wall is guzzling up electricity at an alarming rate. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, greater than 50% of the country’s electricity comes from burning coal. This is clearly not sustainable for a number of reasons. First, coal is not renewable and will eventually run out. Second, burning coal releases carbon dioxide gas as well as other harmful pollutants such as mercury. Third, mining coal is incredibly destructive to the environment as can be seen from mountain top removal. Everyone is a stakeholder of global warming and those in areas near mountaintop removal or large coal plants see even worse effects. Unfortunately we do not yet have any perfect source of energy well within our grasp and as long as we have to rely upon coal for power we need to limit our consumption. These limitations to our electricity use can happen two-fold: by using electronic devices less and greatly emphasizing device efficiency. Video game consoles are a perfect example of where we can take action decrease our energy consumption and therefore limit our negative effects on the earth.
Game System Usage
Video Game usage started out as a small hobby of the computationally savvy, but since the nineties it has become a part of everyday life (Fromme 2003). It is especially prevalent today with children, teens, and young adults. A study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that 36% of adolescents studied, play video games. “Female gamers spent an average of 44 minutes playing on the weekdays and 1 hour and 4 minutes playing on the weekends. Male gamers spent an average of 58 minutes playing on the weekdays and 1 hour and 37 minutes playing on the weekends,” according to the researchers. Now while this may not sound like a large amount of time on the individual level, it is enormous on a national or world scale. To put things another way, the chart below contains the total number of video game consoles sold worldwide for today’s top three selling systems.
VGChartz Console Sales Worldwide (Oct 23, 2010):
That’s nearly 160 million game consoles in existence. Not to mention the more than 20 other big name gaming systems, most of which have become out of date. Despite this insane level of consumption, it is predicted that the amount of video game usage will continue to increase, as it has been, well into the future.
Video Game Consumption
A study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) provides and in depth analysis on the amount of consumption of some of the most common video game consoles today. This study found that the Sony PlayStation 3 burns through an average 150 watts and the Microsoft Xbox 360 consumes an average of 119 watts in active mode. In comparison, the Nintendo Wii consumes a mere 16 watts when active. According to the study, annual game consumption in the US alone is responsible for 11 million tons of CO2 emissions. (NRDC 2010) To make matters worse, it is expected that by the year 2020, the total amount of energy consumption from video game consoles will be nearly triple what it is today (Bronk, Lingamneni, and Palem 2010). There are a number of reasons these statistics are so high. First, the number of video game consoles in households is increasing rapidly. In the United States alone there is nearly an 8% annual increase. Second, the average power consumption of consoles is increasing (NRDC 2010). Every year game system manufacturers aim to push the boundaries of technology and offer the most energy intensive, high quality technology on the market. The graphics capabilities of the Xbox 360 and PS3 are dramatic. Other features that are offered by game systems, such as internet access, also increase the level of consumption. Furthermore, the consumption of the video player systems offered by the newest Xbox and PlayStation products are simply ridiculous. These consoles utilize anywhere from four to seven times as much power as stand-alone Blu-ray disc players and as much as 24 times the power of a stand-alone DVD player(NRDC 2010). Lastly, and most certainly not least, is the problem of not turning off gaming systems. In some cases users simply forget to turn off their consoles, but in other instances they will leave them in the middle of a game because they don’t want to lose their progress. Some people leave their systems on for hours and others for days at a time. A PS3 or Xbox 360 left on 24 hours per day, seven days per week will consume as much electricity each year as two new refrigerators. (NRDC 2010) This is a crazy amount of consumption, but the NRDC estimates that nearly 50% of all users leave their systems on when they are not in use. These wasteful practices result in an enormous sustainability problem.
Cradle to Grave
To add another dimension to the problem, it is important we consider the harmful byproducts of video game consumption. Like many consumer products there are two chemically devastating periods in the game systems life span, its creation and its destruction. Many of the chemicals which go into the production of these devices are similar to those in modern computers and include polyvinyl chloride (PVC), phthalates, and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). The first two are used to make soft plastics like wire casing, and can cause problems in human reproduction. BFRs are known to accumulate in the human body and they can eventually cause abnormal brain development, affecting learning, memory, and behavior. (Chiang 2010) Once again the Nintendo Wii sets the best example for being phthalate and PVC free according to the 2008 Greenpeace report Playing Dirty. Once a console breaks or becomes out of date it is usually discarded as electronic waste. E-waste is a serious problem we are facing all around the globe and the video game industry certainly isn’t doing much to help. Microsoft and Nintendo lack any form of voluntary product take-bake programs for their customers. Roughly 10% of all plastics produced by Sony are made up recycled materials, but the company still faces the same problem with handling most of the toxic e-waste that is produced.
Solutions
While the negative environmental effects of video gaming are fairly daunting, there are several steps we can take solve the issue. The most obvious solution is to completely cease game use. Our ability to survive and be happy on this planet is completely separate from our ability to play video games so theoretically we can do without them. Based on the amount of game usage today, however, this is not a very practical solution. The next best option is to better educate users about the consequences of their actions. Turning game systems off when not in use can bring the colossal energy consumption down to a fraction of the average usage. Skeptics, however, will argue that many adolescent gamers don’t understand the problem well enough to lower consumption even if they are aware of their level of energy use. An improved solution is to educate the parents, who are well aware of the effects of high electricity consumption in their houses; they get to pay the bills for it. Another solution to the problem is to demand better efficiency and less toxic products from companies. This change can happen from government influence, such as the Green Gaming Act, or greater free-market value for sustainable products. The Nintendo Wii has already provided a perfect model of energy efficiency toxin free technology, now it is time to demand this of the other big names. One incentive for companies to create more efficient game systems is the Energy Star seal of approval. The energy standards for game consoles were announced two years ago and already companies appear to be switching to a more environmental focus with products such as the PS3 Slim and Nintendo DSi; both of which offer better energy savings. Through the requirement of more user-friendly power management features, such as automatic power down options, we could save approximately 11 billion kWh of electricity per year, cut our nation’s electricity bill by more than $1 billion per year, and avoid emissions of more than 7 million tons of CO2 each year—an amount equal to the global warming pollution from all the cars on the road in San Jose. Even greater savings would be achieved worldwide. (NRDC 2010)
Links:
Problems with “Clean Coal”: http://www.guitarsolos.com/videos-a-future-for-clean-coal-%5BgoVXD4D1y5k%5D.cfm
Mountaintop Removal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPixjCneseE
A Brief glance at the current video game sale trend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUMNmz4bNZ4
E-Waste: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JZey9GJQP0
Tips for Green Gaming: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/video-tips-for-green-gaming.php
PlayStation 3 Slim Premier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWGRQvDQfrM
Peer Reviewed:
Bronk, Christopher, Avinash Lingamneni, and Krishna Palem. "Innovation for Sustainability in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)." Rice.edu. Rice University. Web. 29 Oct. 2010. <http://www.rice.edu/nationalmedia/multimedia/2010-10-11-ictreport.pdf>.
Cummings, Hope M. "Relation of Adolescent Video Game Play to Time Spent in Other Activities, Cummings and Vandewater 161 (7): 684." Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 161.7 (2007). JAMA & Archives. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, July 2007. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. <http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/161/7/684?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=video game&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT>.
Ed. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Ecos Consulting. "Lowering the Cost of Play: Improving the Energy Efficiency." NRDC.org. Natural Resources Defense Council, Nov. 2008. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. <http://www.nrdc.org/energy/consoles/files/consoles.pdf>.
Fromme, Johannes. "Computer Games as a Part of Children's Culture." The International Journal of Computer Game Research 1001 (2003). Game Studies.org. Game Studies, May 2003. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. <http://www.gamestudies.org/0301/fromme/>.
Other:
Chiang, Oliver J. "How Green Is My Game?" GamePro.com. GamePro, 05 Apr. 2010. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. <http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/214644/how-green-is-my-game/>.
Fallon, Sean. "Energy Star Setting Consumption Guidelines For Game Consoles." Gizmodo.com. Gizmodo. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. <http://gizmodo.com/5064137/energy-star-setting-consumption-guidelines-for-game-consoles>.
OpenCongress. "S.1696: Green Gaming Act of 2009." OpenCongress.org. OpenCongress for the 111th United States Congress, 11 Mar. 2010. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. <http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s1696/show>.
U.S. Department of Energy. "Electric Power." Energy Sources. U.S. Department of Energy. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. <http://www.energy.gov/energysources/electricpower.htm>.
VGChartz. "Video Games, Charts, Articles, News, Reviews, Community, Forums at The VGChartz Network." VGChartz.com. VGChartz Network, 23 Oct. 2010. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. <http://www.vgchartz.com/>.
Pictures:
http://www.greenthinkers.org/blog/2007/03/wii_wins_in_energy_consumption.html
http://www.alternativeconsumer.com/2010/04/06/new-retrevo-study-game-consoles-suck-up-energy-do-consumers-care/
http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/214644/how-green-is-my-game/
http://www.kingmarketing.ca/weblogs/ajkandy/archives/2005/06/
http://gizmodo.com/5064137/energy-star-setting-consumption-guidelines-for-game-consoles
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/pbull/online_survey_says_game_consol.html